Service Leaders

Adina allen

Rabbi Adina Allen, Co-Founder & Creative Director of the Jewish Studio Project, is a spiritual leader, writer and teacher. Integrating a lifetime of experience in the creative arts with her rabbinic training, Adina brings a fluency with Jewish text, ritual and prayer, a passion for bringing creative modalities to Judaism, and a warm pastoral presence. Ordained by Hebrew College in 2014, Adina has worked as an educator at Tufts University Hillel and the Brandeis Collegiate Institute and as a chaplain at Hebrew Senior Life. Adina is a contributing writer to the Huffington Post and her work has been published by Sh'ma Now, Kveller, and the Journal of Interreligious Studies and her original research on generating midrash was published in the CCAR Journal in 2013. Adina serves on the Board of Directors of Urban Adamah and is an alum of the Adamah Fellowship the CIRCLE Interfaith Leadership Fellowship and the Wexner Graduate Fellowship.

jeff kasowitz

Jeff Kasowitz, Co-Founder & Executive Director of the Jewish Studio Project, is a social innovator, musician and community builder. Jeff served as Vice President for the national education reform organization City Year focusing on strategic partnership development. Jeff has taught on leadership and collaboration for organizations including the Harvard Graduate School of Education. A guitarist and singer, Jeff writes and performs his original music inspired by Jewish texts and liturgy and recently released his first album, Arba'im Shanah. Jeff served as a prayer leader and board member of Nehar Shalom Community Synagogue and was Chief Strategist for The Boston Tree Party, an urban agricultural and participatory public art project. A 2017 Joshua Venture Fellow and a past PresenTense Fellow and Environmental Leadership Fellow, Jeff holds MBA and MPH degrees from UC Berkeley.

kiki Lipsett

Kiki Lipsett is a Bay Area music teacher, Jewish educator, and cantorial soloist. She leads and supports leading services at Chochmat HaLev, Temple Sinai, Wilderness Torah festivals, and the JCC of the East Bay. She teaches music classes and private lessons, and is an educator in Camp Tawonga's B'nai Mitzvah Program. Kiki studied piano and voice for many years, and later added guitar and ukulele to her musical skillset. Growing up, her family's home was filled with music, especially around the Jewish holidays. Kiki has just returned from studying in a yeshiva in New York. She leads high holiday services this year in memory of her aunt, Cantor Sarah Lipsett-Allison.

Maya Abramson

Maya Abramson is a musician, outdoor enthusiast, and the newest member of the Jewish Studio Project team as the Studio Manager. Maya studied classical violin at Whitman College, where she expanded her repertoire to include fiddle, folk, jazz, and more. Maya's second home is Camp Tawonga, where she served as the song leader for four summers. When Maya isn’t at Studio AM, you can find her writing music, spending time in the great outdoors and daydreaming about meeting her favorite female-folk idols. Maya has been involved in the local Jewish community as a music specialist and educator at Temple Isaiah, and song leader for life-cycle rituals.

Past Leaders

With gratitude to the rabbis, scholars, cantors, musicians, and community members who have led and coordinated this service since its beginnings in the 1970s, including: Rabbi Leo Abrami, Mayer Goldberg, Rabbi David Winston, Dr. Daniel Matt, Hana Matt, Meryam Zislovich, Rabbi Jay Krause, Cantor Sandra Lipsman, Daniel Brody, Craig Harrison, Rabbi Michael Goldberg,Cantor Rachel Brott, and Donald and Tobey Brody.

Thank you to Susan Sperber for her gracious coordination of these services.